Furnace.



W. T. DODGE.

FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED MAIL 6, 1908.

Patented Jan. 12, 1909.

attorneys which can be readily detached from the fur-- UNITED STATES QFFICE.

\ WASHINGTON T. DODGE, OF BELMONT, NEW YORK.

. FURNACE.

No. 909,767. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan. 12, 1909.

Application filed March 6, 1908. Serial No. 419,589.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, WASHINGTON T. DODGE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Belmont, in the county of Allegany and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Furnace, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to furnaces such for example as used upon locomotives and is more iiart'icularly an improvement in the construction and location of the. furnace doors. .Furnaces of this character haveheretcfore been provided with swinging doors which are objectionable because considerable room must be provided to permit them to be swung -upon their hinges. This has been found particularly objectionable in the large locomotive furnaces now being used and which are provided with more than one door. Moreover, swinging doors are undesirable because it is diiiicult to use mechanical stokers therewith inasmuch as the doors often become caught in the stoking mechanism and cause injury either to said mechanism or to the doors.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide slidable doors each ofwhich has means whereby the interior of the furnace can be viewed without the necessity of opening the door.

Another object is to combine a' mechanical Stoker with the doors in such-a manner that by shifting the stoker in the direction of the door opening through which fuel is to be supplied, the door covering said opening will be pushed aside by the stoker so that said stoker will assume an operative position without allowing cool air to pass through the door opening and into the furnace.

Another object is to provide slidable doors nace, if desired.

\Vith these and other objects in view the invention consists of certain novel features of construction and combinations'of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings is shown the preferred form of the invention.

In said drawings: Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a furnace and the doors thereon, one of the doors being shown open and the mechanical stoker being positioned in front of the door opening. said stoker being shown partly in section and its normal position being indicated by dotted lines.

' from the furnace by Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section on line AB, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section through one side portion of a door and the adjoining portion of the furnace, said section being taken on the line C-D, Fig. 1.

teferring to the figures by characters of reference, 1 designates a furnace having a horizontal supporting rail 2 connected thereto and spaced therefrom,.said rail extending above the two door openings 3, 3 in the furnace. Suspended from'the rail 2 are slidable doors each consisting of a preferably metallic panel 4 the upper edge portion of which is hooked or folded as indicated at 5 so as to straddle the rail 2 while the lower portion of each door is positioned back of a guide rail 6 disposed horizontally below the door openings and supported, and spaced brackets 7. Each panel 4 has an opening 8 therein which is preferably oval and arranged upon the panel along the vertical edges thereof are guide cleats 9 between which is mounted a slide 10 which normally closes the opening 8. This slide has an apertured ear or projection 11 extending from its upper edge and constantly exposed. A plate 12 of' mica or other diaphanous,material which is unaffected by" heat is seated immovably within and be tween thev cleats 9 and in front of the slide 10 of each door.

Mounted upon the rail 2 and between the doors at is a mechanical stoker which in the present instance consists of a casing or housing 13 having a hopper 14 at its upper end for directing fuel thereinto. there being a revoluble toothed stoking cylinder 15 within the housing and extending across the in.- ner open face thereof which has been indi cated at 16. Hangers 17 extend upward from the inner' wall of hopper lat and are provided at their upper ends with rollers 18 designed to travel on rail 2. The parts are so proportioned that when the housing is suspended from the rail in this manner its inner openface 16 will rest close to the furnace. Brackets 19 are located at the lower end of the housing and carry horizontal antifriction rollers 20 designed to travel along the wall of the furnace. be understood that the housing is of substantially the same width as the door opening so that when it is positioned in front of the opening it will completely close the same and at the same time permit the cylinder 15 It is of course to' todirect fuel through the opening and into the furnace.

the stoker or the door.

Asindicated by dotted lines in Fig. lthe normal position of the stoker is midway between the furnace doors. Should the the man desire to inspect the fire the slide 10 of either or both of the doors is raised by means of a poker or other implement whereupon the fire will be visible through the diaphanous plate'12 and theopening 8 Should the inspection show that fuel is needed at one side of the furnace the stoker is shifted along rail 2 toward said side. During this movement the stoker strikes the door 4 in the path thereof and pushes itlaterally relative to the door opening and until the stoker assumes a position directl in front of the opening whereupon c lin er 15 can be set in motion by means 0 any suitable mechanism provided for that purpose.

It will be apparent that by providing doors such as herein described the space in front of the furnace can be greatly-economized. Moreover, it is possible to quickly position a stoker in front of either door opening without danger of injuring either Furthermore, as the opening of the door and the placing of the stoker constitutes a single operation and the parts follow one after the other'in the manner described the positioning of the stoker is not only greatl facilitated but the entry of cold air to the urnace and the consequent chilling of the fire is prevented.

Although the preferred form of the invention has been shown it is to be understood that various changes may he made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages thereof.

\Vhat is claimed is:

1. 'l he combination with a furnace having a'door opening. and a slid-able furnace door; of a stoker in the path of said door and movable thereagainst to shift the door.

2. The combination with a furnace having a door opening therein and a door slidably and removably mounted relatively thereto;

of a. stoker movabiy mounted adjacent the furnace and outside of the door, said stoker being movable in one direction to shift the door,'said door and stoker maintaining the door opening closed during the shifting of the door.

3. The combination with a furnace and a supporting rail adjacent thereto; of a door slidably'monnted upon the rail, and a dopr actuating stoker movably supported by said rail.

' 4. The combination with a furnace, a supporting rail adjacent thereto; and doors slidably mounted upon the rail; of a stoker supported by the rail and interposed between and shiftable against and disposed to open either of the doors.

5. The combination with a furnace having door openings, and slidable doors upon theu an;

6. The combination with a furnace having 

